DLR for AP holders, dreams do come true. . .

[nurse.darcy]

Okay so we started our journey like any other. Driving from La Quinta (Indio-Palm Desert area) and arriving at DLR just before gate opening at 8 a.m. We got to watch the family of the day open the park (DL) and then count down with them till the gates open. Since we were focused on the BIG RIDES, we headed for Space Mountain. We got fastpasses for space mountain at 0850 and then decided to ride autopia. . .
Tram anyone?

Autopia. . .first ride of the day. . .

, what fun. . .

So we continue on in Tomorrow land, getting fast passes for Space Mountain and then Buzz Lightyear. Rockin Space Mountain with the Red Hot Chili Peppers is AWESOME. . .This is our new favorite ride. We go on Buzz Lightyear after this. That was fun. . .here
s a pic. . .

.

After Buzz, we decided to head on out to find captain Jack Sparrow. . .he wasn't too hard to spot. . .

But my son and I were much more in disguise. . .lol. . .

 

[nurse.darcy]

I must go to work tonight so I will continue this WONDERFUL DREAM FILLED REPORT TOMORROW. . .

 

[CrAzY4DL]

Loving it, thanks for sharing!! Looking forward to your next post!!!

 

[nurse.darcy]

Guess I don't have to go to work tonight after all so I will continue my report. . .it was a great trip after all. . .

Before we do POTC we get fast passes for Indiana Jones Adventure. We go on POTC (by the way, don't be intimidated by crowds at POTC. The line moves very quickly) which we love and then to IJA. I LOVE IJA so this is a must do for us. At this point it is time for a snack. Neither one of us EVER agree on a snack so I get a mickey pretzel and he gets a churro. It suits us and we just enjoy. We also know we need to head over to the Hotel some time today so we start to think about heading over to California Adventure to pick up fast passes for Soarin, GRR and Tower of Terror. We also decide to eat lunch over there since they have the Boudin Bakery that serves the Salads in the sourdough bread bowls which we love. . .also I can get a frozen margarita which I love. So, we head on over to fantasyland to get in a couple rides there before we go off to DCA. We go on Casey Jr Circus train (a favorite, though very much for the little kids), Snow Whites Scary adventures (never has much of a line for some reason) and Pinocchio. Then head down main street for the lockers and then off to California Adventure.

First job is to get fast passes for some rides. We go to Soarin and decide to go in the Single Rider line since it seems like we can get in there really fast. Unfortunately, it took us about an hour to get through that, but no worries, we have two days to do everything we want to do so after Soarin (which we love) we head on over to TOT to get a fast pass. On the way we spot Stitch and Mary Poppins. Nice to see but the lines queing up for them are HUGE so we just continue on to TOT. We get our fast pass, which is for 2:45 p.m. and then go straight to GRR to pick up a fast pass there. We get one there for 2:30 p.m. This will work out great for our trip to the hotel. (At this point I should add that we also have Indiana Jones fast passes because we love this ride and wanted to do it again. Our IJA fast passes are for 2:40 p.m. . .lol). Okay, so we are at DCA and have some fastpasses and decide to head on out to Paradise Pier for a ride on Rockin California Screamin. We always do this ride many times because they have a single rider line and its just a blast. Here are some pics of Paradise Pier and California Screamin. . .

So we go on the single rider line at California Screamin and then decide that we want to eat lunch at Boudin Bakery, which is a favorite.

My son had the Sonoma chicken and apple salad and I had the Newport Nicoise salad (tuna). We ordered an eclair, my son had a soda, and I had a margarita. Lunch came to $25 and change (minus the margarita). Here are pics of our salads and the eclair. . .

The Sonoma Chicken Salad and Eclair

The Newport Nicoise Salad and Margarita. . .lol.

This is plenty of food for us, but may not hold a HEALTHY eater (i.e.; a meat and potatoes man) They do have some BIG sandwich selections so no issues there - we just happen to like salads and it was a nice warm day.

 

[nurse.darcy]

Okay, so I resized the pics because I figured I was taking up a lot of bandwidth. . .sorry moderators.

Anyway, at this point we decide to head on over to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Anaheim Resort (there are several Holiday Inns. This one is on Manchester just off of Katella). Sorry, no pics of the hotel because we were just wanting to get checked in and get back to the park. Anyway, the hotel is beautiful and the rooms are nice sized but do not expect great service. They are HUGELY lacking in personnel. Anyway, it was 1:45 when we got there and we had to wait for a room. . .this is very sad because the hotel was NOT crowded - the ONE person working the desk needed to enter some information into the computer to get everyone checked in and told us it would be about a half hour before that happened. Anyway, 15 minutes into this process, a family shows up and is checked in and given room keys immediately, so I go to the desk and tell them that hey, I was here to check in before them and why were they not servicing my needs. Anyway, at that point I get a room. The room I got was a smoking room on a smoking floor, HOWEVER, the room was clean, did not smell like smoke and truthfully, I don't think anyone has ever smoked in this room. The only drawback is that they have double beds in the two bed rooms and I prefer queen bed rooms. There is a refrigerator in ALL rooms and a coffee maker and hair dryer. The refrigerator is big enough for a gallon of milk and will hold plenty of stuff. There is a cupboard above the counter that holds the coffeemaker that will hold dry goods and there is plenty of room in it. Iron and Ironing board are included in the room and there is a table with two upholstered chairs and an armoir with three large drawers and a nice sized television with lots of cable channels. It was a very nice room. Warning, the ice machine is ONLY on odd numbered floors beginning with the 3rd floor - this is very inconvenient for me since I love ice. . .lol.

 

[disneyfanatic4]

I am enjoying your trip report and loving the picture. Thanks for sharing.... can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip.

 

[Iluvcruising]

A great start

Thank you

 

[nurse.darcy]

Sorry, had to go pick up the kid from band practice. I am a little tired so if I just stop typing it is because I fell asleep at the computer. . .lol.

Okay, so now we are back from the hotel and ready to use our fast passes. . .we decide to do Indiana first because its in the Main park. . .we will get to TOT and GRR next. We had already done IJA earlier when there was no line but since we love it so much we decided to do it again. . . lol. Afterward we walked over to DCA. At DCA we did TOT, a blast, and GRR. . .we got soaked on GRR but that was not an issue as we brought a change of clothes with us and knew we would not be uncomfortable the rest of the night. We watched the High School musical event before heading on over to DL for the rest of the night.

At this point I should mention that you shouldn't worry about your return times too much on the fastpasses. We were late for ALL THREE passes we had and no one even flinched.

So, now that we are dry and comfortable and safely in DL, we are ready to take on more rides. We decided to get a fast pass for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and then head off to do POTC again (again, we LOVE this ride. . .). Here are some pics of the entrance to the ride. . .lol

After POTC we went to BTMR to ride. That was a blast as always. Then we decided to go do Star Tours. We had to wait in the line at Star tours. I talked to 3 Japanese tourists who moved here in September to go to school. They were asking me about fastpass and I explained to them how it works and that it was free. They got really excited and were so thankful. I mention them because we will run into them again at DCA the next day. They were so nice. I did forget to mention that we went to dinner after POTC again at the French Market. We always manage to eat here. The food is VERY GOOD for Disneyland Counter Service. I had the beef stew in a sourdough bread bowl and my son had the Down Home Fried Chicken and steak fries meal. Both meals came with a side salad and we got two drinks and a dessert. Dinner came to $34, but this was A LOT of food. My son got 3 pieces of chicken, a huge breast, thigh and leg, and a platter of steak fries. The side salad was pretty large as well. My son ate two pieces of chicken and about a third of the fries plus the side salad. I ate all my beef stew but only a couple bites of my salad and the sourdough bread. Then I took a bite of the dessert we got. My son finished it. The dessert looked like a chocolate tart, but it had a hint of cinnamon from some apples in the bottom. It was absolutely fabulous. The apples kept it from being too heavy. It was a real treat.

Okay, so after lingering over dinner and waiting in line for star tours it was after 9 p.m. and there were many people waiting for the fireworks show. We were not going to stay for it as we had been up since 4 in the morning to make the drive out so we decided to head back to the hotel.

Just a side note: We decided to use Anaheim Resort Transit to go back to the park after checking in at our hotel. This costs about $3 a day unless you stay more than 3 days. You buy the passes from your hotel desk. The drivers do not accept cash. If you don't feel like driving, this is the best way to get to the good neighbor hotels, especially when it is very busy at the parks. One note though, they canceled the fireworks show because of high winds aloft so the busses got REALLY crowded really fast. If your hotel is on route K, you visit quite a few hotels and you may have to wait a while to get to or from your hotel. The good news is that they will put more busses on the routes when busy and also call in the bigger busses. Its definitely worth it if you are staying for a couple days.

I'll do day two tomorrow (the day dreams came true). . .hope you enjoy. . .

 

[nurse.darcy]

Day Two. . .Our Dream Day. . .

My son insisted that we get up at 5 a.m. so we could be in line at the park at 7 a.m. I kept trying to tell him they don't even open the parking gates till 7:30 and that I really would love to sleep in, but he insisted, so I got up and got showered. We left the hotel at around 6:30, stopped for a bite to eat and then headed over to the Land. As I had mentioned to my son beforehand, the gates were closed till 7:30 so we have a little over a half hour to wait till we can get through the parking gate. I get smart and decide to take Brandon over to the drop off point so he can get the stuff through the security checkpoint. All I have to do now is park, tram over to the parks and get in line with my son. This strategy worked well as we were in line at the main gate with only about 5 people in front of us.

After the gate opened, my son headed to Space Mountain to get fastpasses and I headed into line at Peter Pan (you really must do this first thing otherwise its a 90 minute wait when crowded. . .heck, I still cannot figure out why this ride has the longest wait in Fantasyland. . .lol). I stopped for pictures outside the castle with the Disney photographer, got a pic of me holding Tinkerbell and then headed over to Peter Pan. My son met me there and Away we went on the ride. Then to Mr. Toad's wild ride, Alice in Wonderland, Storybookland Canal Boats, then Its A Small World. Here are some pics from Storybookland Canal Boats and Alice in Wonderland. . .

 

[nurse.darcy]

As you can see from the time stamp on my photos it is only 8:36 when we get off the canal boats and head over to IASW.

Here I should mention that the day before, Brandon had noticed the dream fastpasses and asked me about them. I told him that the dream team gives those out and that you just have to be in the right place at the right time. He simply said, I hope we win those mom. And that was the last I heard of it till this morning. We got our own boat on IASW as there were only a little more than a dozen people in line. The CMs were exceptionally cheery this morning and the CM in the booth said Enjoy your private cruise to all the families boarding. . .after our private cruise we step off the boat and start up the stairs of the exit. That's when I spot them, the blue shirted dream team with their messenger bags bestowing gifts of dream fastpasses to all those who stepped off IASW that morning. So my son and I got dream fastpasses that morning and we were SOOOOO EXCITED. They explained to us how they worked and asked if we had hoppers for DCA, we said we were AP holders, and they said if we didn't have hoppers or APs then we could use our one park ticket and the dream fastpass to gain admission to the other park. I thought that was pretty awesome. Here is what they look like. . .

I think they specifically picked IASW because of the smaller crowds and the out of the way exit that is hidden behind a store so they would not get mobbed...lol.

Remember, its still just barely 9 a.m., the park opened at 8 and we are holding regular fastpasses for Space Mountain and Autopia. We have gone on 5 rides in an hour and have now won the dream fastpasses so we are no longer bound by the time gods to get our fastpasses quick before they run out for the day. So we go use our regular fastpasses on Space Mountain and Autopia, then head on over to do Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones (our first tab off our dream fastpass), POTC and Haunted Mansion.

 

[nurse.darcy]

Okay, so now that we have done nearly everything we wanted to do and its still fairly early, we decide to head on over to Roger Rabbit, the fastpass line was huge so we decided that we would be better served to go back to tomorrowland, do Space Mountain, Autopia and Buzz Lightyear again using the Dream Fastpasses, then go try for Roger Rabbit again. This worked well. We did stop and eat lunch after Buzz Lightyear at the Toy Story Pizza Planet. We both had a slice of cheese pizza and a drink, and my son got a cookie. This came to $21. Warning though, these pizza slices are HUGE and can easily feed two small children. Its enough to fill up my 14 y.o. who is 6'1" tall, and I can never finish one.

Here we are in Toon Town. . .

Okay so now that we have done all our dream fastpasses in DL, we are ready to head on over to DCA to work it. . .first stop is Monsters, Inc. There was only a 15 minute que line there so we decide to wait and go on it. Afterward we head to TOT to use our fastpass, then we head on over to Paradise Pier to take on California Screamin, the Maliboomer, The Sun Wheel, the Orange Stinger and Mulholland Madness. Next its off to GRR to take on the water, however, I didn't want to get wet as it was kinda cool that day and we were going to be leaving soon to come home. Here is Brandon on GRR and showing off his wet self. . .he was soaked.

Now off to Soarin, our last ride of the day. Remember the Japanese students we met the day before? On our way to Soarin we run into them. They are holding fastpasses for Soarin so we will all go together. They told me thank you for the tip on the fastpasses and said they saw MUCH more on this day than they did the day before. They had seen most things and were much happier for it.

 

[nurse.darcy]

It was a great trip. Probably the most fun we have had in a long time because we just hammed it up and acted like big kids ourselves. We braced ourselves for the big crowds because of spring break and just decided that it didn't matter how much we got to do. The dream fastpasses on day two turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Since Wednesday was twice as crowded as the day before we would have ended up standing in a LOT of lines as most rides with fastpasses were all out by noon. All in all a great trip. When I get my photopass CD I'll post additional pics.

I'll leave you with one last pic. Its of Sleeping Beauty's Castle first thing in the morning on Wednesday, on my way to Peter Pan Flight. See how empty and beautiful the park looks. . .

 

[bubblygrl]

GREAT trip report! and how awesome was it to have the dream fast passes!!!

 

[sharoncity]

Thank you so much for sharing your trip report! The Dream Fastpasses sound wonderful! I hope we are fortunate enough to get some pixie dust sprinkled on our upcoming trip too! I think it is great that your son is still willing to hamm it up with you like that - what great memories for both of you!

 

[nurse.darcy]

Thank you so much for sharing your trip report! The Dream Fastpasses sound wonderful! I hope we are fortunate enough to get some pixie dust sprinkled on our upcoming trip too! I think it is great that your son is still willing to hamm it up with you like that - what great memories for both of you!

My son absolutely LOVES all things Disney, thankfully. This way I always have someone to share my Disney love with. . .

 

[lulubelle]

Great report Darcy!
We live local, too and love to stay for two or three nights a few times a year. It is my favorite thing to do We got Dream FP's last time we went too, and it made our whole weekend. Not only saves time, but makes you feel so special. Love the pix and your son sure looks like he's having fun with his mom, what a great kid
Thanks for sharing...and yes, that final photo is absolutely beautiful. I just love all the colors of the flowers in DL.

 

[caitlinsdad]

Thanks for sharing

 

[KimAshton]

Looks like you had a blast.

 

[we3disneygo]

Great trip report and love all the picture's, I'll be leaving in 25 days with dd13. it's our first time and seeing the pictures is the best! thanks!